Big Loss for Transit Riders

Given a choice between a firm job offer from one potential boss, versus a possible job offer from multiple bosses, Dan Tangherlini, Metro's interim general manager, went with option A. David Nakamura and Lena Sun report in today's Post that mayoral candidate Adrian M. Fenty offered Tangherlini the job of D.C. city manager and Tangherlini will take it.

The D.C. government wins. Metro may still come out of this okay, following it's nationwide search for a new leader, but it has lost the management momentum created by Tangherlini following the forced departure of Richard White, whose administration had become sluggish and disconnected from riders and employees.

Tangherlini had brought new ideas and -- maybe more important -- a new spirit to the top spot. He connected both with the workforce and with the customers.

How do you see it? Was Metro wrong to follow process and conduct a search for a new general manager, or should it have recognized tha value of removing the "interim" from Tangherlini's title while it still had the chance?